It's not like this money would not have been spent some other way.
At least this way, people see president. If president locks himself into white house for four years making hotdogs for family, I'm not sure why you think that would be better.

Alot less money spent on security detail. Also if the money is spent some other way, we could spend it on something like fixing roads or building bridges. I personally think we'd be better not spending the money, but not spending it on the president seems like great first step in the right direction.

It's not like this money would not have been spent some other way.
At least this way, people see president. If president locks himself into white house for four years making hotdogs for family, I'm not sure why you think that would be better.

Considering the garbage he was running against, I am not. Not near as many actually voted FOR Obama as they were mainly voting AGAINST Romney.

Still think it is complete garbage that with two completely failures for choices among the two big parties, not enough of the US population had the intelligence to vote outside of them with 3rd party candidates. I mean seriously, the D and R gave us the choice between a disappointment and a disaster while there were perfectly viable alternatives that were ignored cause some no nothing's told us the were unelectable.... Sounds like a self fulfilling prophesy to me.

I guess the only thing that really bothers me is the fact that they still use the Bible.

I mean over 25% of the Nation doesn't practice any form of Christianity, and you know, separation of church and state.

I'm not gonna lose any sleep over it, but yeah, I find it annoying.

Unless I'm totally wrong on this, I don't think that part's required. It's what the President wants to use. The oath, by law, doesn't end with "so help me God." That was added by a previous President, tradition was struck, and they just keep doing it.

I never said we shouldnt pay for secret service. I said we should be paying for all the extra officers and the police needed to control the crowds and traffic. If he had a simple ceremony where he swore in at the capitol steps and then went back to work we wouldnt have needed to spend all the extra money, as his normal crew wouldve been fine

I never said we shouldnt pay for secret service. I said we should be paying for all the extra officers and the police needed to control the crowds and traffic. If he had a simple ceremony where he swore in at the capitol steps and then went back to work we wouldnt have needed to spend all the extra money, as his normal crew wouldve been fine

There are no "extra officers".

Where did you get the idea that the Secret Service has part-time temps? They put more people on field duty, rather than other duties. They may work with police forces in the local area. All these people are salaried employees, doing their jobs. Nobody's bringing in temps.

It's always hilarious to hear Conservatives say things like..."Even if we taxed the rich at 100% it would only run the government for a couple days!," then throw a fucking fit about $50 million once every four years.

So Obama has not increased drone strikes, stripped us of any semblance of privacy, and has ended the war on drugs?

. Let me guess you would have advocated for Nazi rights too when they were getting bombed? Terrorist are like roaches and deserve to be exterminated. Any American advocating for terrorist rights needs to go visit a VA hospital sometime. Also do not pull that soverign country shit because Pakistan has nukes and controls our access into Afghanastan and they have not said a damn thing because they are authorized.

. Agree on the privacy thing. Go ask the Judicial branch to keep the legislative and Executive branch in check and do their job of balancing.

. I do not see him telling Attorney General Eric Holder to send in the feds in Colorado and Washington. Obama is not stupid. The easiest way to shut down a fuck ton of cartels is to legalize marijuana. It has a medical sue and therefore is not a schedule one 1 drug plain and simple. Supreme Court will uphold the Washington and Colorado laws easily and Obama is well aware of this.

Where did you get the idea that the Secret Service has part-time temps? They put more people on field duty, rather than other duties. They may work with police forces in the local area. All these people are salaried employees, doing their jobs. Nobody's bringing in temps.

They have police from different municipalities working down there, as well. They aren't doing charity work, and I would be pretty surprised if DC wasn't picking up the tab.

---------- Post added 2013-01-22 at 03:43 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Deadvolcanoes

It's always hilarious to hear Conservatives say things like..."Even if we taxed the rich at 100% it would only run the government for a couple days!," then throw a fucking fit about $50 million once every four years.

$50 million might only be a drop in the bucket of the billions spent on a daily basis, but the attitude that $50 million doesn't really matter is why we have $16 trillion of debt and climbing.

They have police from different municipalities working down there, as well. They aren't doing charity work, and I would be pretty surprised if DC wasn't picking up the tab.

---------- Post added 2013-01-22 at 03:43 PM ----------

$50 million might only be a drop in the bucket of the billions spent on a daily basis, but the attitude that $50 million doesn't really matter is why we have $16 trillion of debt and climbing.

I think his point was that you can't have it both ways. If $50 million in spending is significant, then don't pretend that the money generated from extra tax on the wealthy is only a drop in the bucket.

Met the ghost of Stephen Foster at the Hotel Paradise
This is what I told him as I gazed into his eyes
Ships are made for sinking, whisky made for drinking
If we were made of cellophane we'd all get stinking drunk much faster...

I had issue with the use of MLK day to start with. I seriously doubt that MLK would approve of Obama's positions on many things. Namely the perpetuating the war on drugs.

This sums it up better than I could:

You need to do some research regarding the Obama administration's Justice Department directives if you believe he's anywhere near as tyrannical as previous Presidents as to his personal feelings on recreational drug use...

I think his point was that you can't have it both ways. If $50 million in spending is significant, then don't pretend that the money generated from extra tax on the wealthy is only a drop in the bucket.

That's exactly the point. I have no problem with a lavish party once every for years to celebrate the election of a President. It's just really not a big deal.

No one is saying $50 million doesn't matter. I'm not advocating that we just throw it into the shredder. A lot of local businesses are profiting from the inauguration, so it's not a total loss.

I think his point was that you can't have it both ways. If $50 million in spending is significant, then don't pretend that the money generated from extra tax on the wealthy is only a drop in the bucket.

I certainly haven't ever said that. I'm in favor of a flat tax and setting the government's budget to a percentage of GDP, but that's never going to happen.

That's exactly the point. I have no problem with a lavish party once every for years to celebrate the election of a President. It's just really not a big deal.

No one is saying $50 million doesn't matter. I'm not advocating that we just throw it into the shredder. A lot of local businesses are profiting from the inauguration, so it's not a total loss.

It also brings some 800,000 people (I think that's the number of people who were at the Inauguration) a great deal of happiness and memories, and a sense of ceremony and ritual to much larger swathes of the American public, which has value in itself.

Met the ghost of Stephen Foster at the Hotel Paradise
This is what I told him as I gazed into his eyes
Ships are made for sinking, whisky made for drinking
If we were made of cellophane we'd all get stinking drunk much faster...

That's exactly the point. I have no problem with a lavish party once every for years to celebrate the election of a President. It's just really not a big deal.

No one is saying $50 million doesn't matter. I'm not advocating that we just throw it into the shredder. A lot of local businesses are profiting from the inauguration, so it's not a total loss.

First term Presidents, I can sort of agree with the need to have a ceremony. Second term Presidents? Have a private ceremony in the Oval Office, say a few words on TV, and go back to work. Pretending the parties are for people’s enjoyment and not for lobbying/schmoozing is pretty naive.

First term Presidents, I can sort of agree with the need to have a ceremony. Second term Presidents? Have a private ceremony in the Oval Office, say a few words on TV, and go back to work. Pretending the parties are for people’s enjoyment and not for lobbying/schmoozing
is pretty naive.

You think there were 800,000 lobbyist/schmoozers on the capital mall yesterday?

Met the ghost of Stephen Foster at the Hotel Paradise
This is what I told him as I gazed into his eyes
Ships are made for sinking, whisky made for drinking
If we were made of cellophane we'd all get stinking drunk much faster...